Llew and Vonnie in Washington 10-13-08

Wow, I looked at the blog because it's a part of this machine that I am somewhat at ease with, and there are new things on it. I was very saddened to hear of Richard's death and send my most sincere care to all of his family, both ones whom I know from many years ago in Cleveland visits and others, and ones whom I have not met. As I told Linda and Ken in an email, I am very glad that they were able to to to Arkansas and visit with everyone. I visit vicariously through Linda's internet postings.
Winter is at our heels here, with nighttime temperatures in the low 30s but not quite freezing. Our yard duck, who is larger than most geese, wonders where all her furniture went, since she likes to nap out of the mist, rain, or sun. Vonnie and I took a trip to Ashland, Oregon, in the summer and saw some Shakespeare plays and other plays at the theaters there, and also had a reunion with a couple of people whom I had taught with in Thibodaux, Louisiana, in the late 60s. These were people who use to enjoy my trips to Cleveland because they loved Granny Gray's vegetable soup base and her turnip greens that I came back with. One of my friends from there, who also suddenly died earlier in the summer, very like Richard, unexpected, had actually gone with me to Cleveland once and met both Granny and Granddaddy.
Vonnie and I have a new favorite place in Bellingham, which is Boulevard Park on the bay. It is the start of a long boardwalk that connects downtown to Fairhaven (a smaller area that was a historical town long ago and is now a cute and busy tourist haven), but our magnet is a coffee house called Woods, with a fireplace, coffee choices that Linda and Ken say can only be found in Washington, and views of the boats and water. Matt might remember the park because it is where the antique car show was that he liked. Vonnie says that Woods is equally as good as Starbucks. Wow! I always smile because instead of ordering small, medium, large, or for Starbuck lingo, grande, viente, and tall, they order by Spruce, Fir, and Evergreen, in tree sizes.
I can't remember the sequence, but I know that I generally get a Spruce.
All of our kitties are fine. Mithril Boy had to have a new collar. Our neighbor called to say that she had found it old one in her driveway area a few days ago, and was worried about him. Sweet Winkie got locked in another neighbor's garage and is now virtually a house cat, not wanting to go out much. And Kim is still the Alpha Male ruler of the house, bossing the other two around, even though she is the youngest and newest.
We enjoy seeing all the pictures that are sent out way, and get somewhat embarrassed that we still haven't learned to load pictures to the computer to send. We need a tutor, here, daily, it seems. We will send some paper pictures out with Christmas.
Hello to all. Love, Llew

Reintroducing our family blog

I would like to reintroduce our family blog. It is still private where no one can view what we write or share who is not an invited guest.

I want to include Llew, Elizabeth, Kristen, Brandi, and Jody who we have been visiting since Saturday.

We have had a wonderful time being with them and their extended family. Jody and Cecil have bent over backwards to show us the sites in their area: more details on that later. We enjoyed being with our other cousins yesterday at their home. There were so many of us I couldn't count them all. They brought food, we visited, they helped me with their family genealogy, and we played Go, Fish!

I love each of you and hope you are having a great week. Remember that you can make your own post and comment on the other posts. This is better than posting on FaceBook, because it will stay private, and not be aired on the whole Interent. Some things are private. Some things are public. Love, Mom Linda

DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog: READER'S FEEDBACK: Comparing websites

DearMYRTLE's Genealogy Blog: READER'S FEEDBACK: Comparing websites

I also appreciate places where I can get the best bang for my buck, not only moneywise, but what features the website has to offer, its ease of use, as well as its comprehensiveness.

As far as comparison shopping goes, it helps me to find a web site that has done all the work for me. I have looked at the following web sites and some of their links. This does not mean I necessarily endorse the information they give and I cannot vouch for the accuracy of all of the information. As far as I researched, the links should work in the most recently updated web sites. I will list the following web sites that I have Googled, using the following keywords in the search line:

comparison rating review genealogy web sites

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
http://www.cyndislist.com
Webmaster & Owner: Cyndi Howells, Cyndi@CyndisList.comUpdated Friday, 11 July 2008, 10:01:15 PM PDT
1996-2008: Your genealogy starting point online for more than a decade!

Louis Kessler'sGenealogy Software Links
http://www.lkessler.com/gplinks.shtml
Last update: Wednesday July 02 2008

Top Ten Reviews
http://genealogy-software-review.toptenreviews.com/
2003-2008 Copyright.

2008 Genealogy Service Reviews
http://www.starreviews.com/Genealogy-Service-Reviews.aspx
It gives today's date: Saturday, July 12, 2008, but that does not mean that anything has been updated on this date, only that it is today's date when I accessed the web site.

Top 5 Genealogy Magazines for Family History Enthusiastshttp://genealogy.about.com/od/magazines/tp/magazines.htm
©2008 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

Family Tree Magazine / July 15th / 101 Best Web Sites!
http://genealogysf.blogspot.com/2008/07/family-tree-magazine-july-15th-101-best.html
Joining a genealogy blogspot group will broaden our knowledge about what is the newest and best on the Internet.July 15th / 101 Best Web Sites!

Consumer Search
http://www.consumersearch.com/www/software/genealogy-software/review.html
Updated September 2007

Genealogy Finder1.0
http://www.download.com/Genealogy-Finder/3000-2127_4-10062272.html?hhTest=1
Added to www.cnet/download August 16, 2001
Latest review by a reader: January 5, 2006
Although this download may seem outdated, a majority of the reader reviews stated they located web sites through this free download that they would not have found on their own. You must have the free WinZip or other unzip program to complete the download. If you try to save it to a location on your computer first, it will not open. Open it first, unzip it, and then use a Search from the Start on the bottom menu to locate where it will open on your C Drive. Right click on the Red Box icon, Copy, Open another folder, and Paste it where you want it to go on your computer. May sound complicated, but if I can do it, I bet you can also.

I consider my self an intermediate user of technology and a fairly new newbie with genealogy on the Internet. I subscribe to www.ancestry.com, www.worldvitalrecords.com, and www.legacy.com. I also make use of www.familysearch.com, www.findagrave.com (am a volunteer for bios and photographs), www.rootsweb.ancestry.com (message boards, lookups for US, state, county, cemeteries, historical society help), and any other web sites that will help me with my research. I do not depend on one web site whether subscription or free to do my best to document the ancestry lines in my family. I also believe in taking course work online (free and paid) and in my geographical area at the local historical society at the local museum (20 minute drive) or at the local Family History Center (20 minute drive) to our nearest 5,000 populated town.

Good luck to all of us with our family history searching.

Linda Robbins